Big-box retailers are wedging stores into tight, urban neighborhoods with less real estate and shorter inventory lists. They’re looking to open scaled-down stores right where Canadian city dwellers live and work, to capture the daily and weekend shopping trips that people make on foot, not by car.

Canadian Tire is the latest retailer to test the waters. On Thursday, it will open the doors on a 6,100-square-foot Canadian Tire Express store in Toronto’s bustling Greektown neighborhood. The store, formerly an outlet under the chain’s Mark’s Work Wearhouse banner, is much smaller than the company’s traditional outlets. A Canadian Tire store two miles away spans 70,000 square feet. Read More »

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Canada Real Time provides insight and analysis into what’s making news in Canada, a country punching above its weight on the world stage thanks to its vast resources and strong banking sector. Drawing on the expertise of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires, we take a look at developments in fields ranging from business to politics to culture. You can contact the editors at canadaeditors@dowjones.com